Double acting spring hinge for folding doors



- June 23,

5 E, BLOOM 2,891,274

DOUBLE ACTING spam; HINGE FOR FOLDING moons 7 Original Filed May 22. 1956 United States Patent @fliee 2,891,274 Patented June 23, 1959 DOUBLE ACTING SPRING HINGE FOR FOLDING DOORS Frank E. Bloom, Mullet Lake, Mich.

Substituted for abandoned application Serial No. 586,426, May 22, 1956. This application January 24, 1958, Serial No. 711,039

3 Claims. (Cl. 16-190) This invention relates to hinges. More particularly, the invention has reference to a hinge so designed as to be spring biased, through the provision of an over-center spring, both to fully open and fully close positions of the hinge.

The invention has particular utility on folding doors, and is applicable both to wooden and metal doors. The invention further is designed to permit the doors to fold upwardly or laterally on cabinets, wardrobes, and the like, with the device being further adapted for use on folding window shutters, etc.

One of the disadvantages of conventional hinge constructions resides in the fact that the hinge serves, in most cases, only the function of providing a pivot axis for the door or other hinged member.

Some hinges, of course, include spring means adapted to bias the door to a normally closed position, but heretofore, so far as is known, it has not been proposed to design a hinge that will be specially adapted for biasing the relatively hingedly connected members both to open and closed positions. Reference is made, in connection with the terms open and closed positions, to an arrangement in which the doors in their closed positions will abut in a common plane and when in their open positions will be in face to face contact in parallel planes. This arrangement is especially desirable in connection with the newer types of closet doors, comprising a plurality of hingedly connected, relatively narrow panels adapted to fold accordion fashion.

The invention, summarized briefly, comprises a pair of hinge leaves connectable to adjacent relatively swingaole panels, with said panels swinging about an axis defined by a pin extending through sleeves provided upon the hinge leaves. Integral or otherwise rigid with the respective leaves are laterally extending wings lying in planes normal to the planes of the respective leaves and also normal to the hinge axis, said wings being adapted for recessing in the abutting sides of the door. The wings are formed with flanges, and extending within the flanges and projecting across the hinge axis is an expansion spring, adapted to move over center, that is, over the hinge axis on swinging of the doors between their respective extreme positions.

Among objects of importance are the following:

To provide hinge means as described which will present to to the casual viewer the appearance of conventional hinges, so as to detract to a minimum extent from the appearance of the structure on which they are mounted;

To so locate the spring as to cause the same to bias the doors to their opposite extreme positions once it has been moved over a dead center, with the spring exerting equal force against the doors in both instances;

To so design the hinge as to facilitate its mounting upon the door; and

To permit manufacture of the hinge at a minimum of cost.

Other objects will appear from the following descrip- 2. tion, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, and. wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a pair of hingedly connected panels provided with a hinge formed according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 in which the panels are in folded relation;

Figure 3 is an enlarged elevational view of the hinge in its open position, the panels being shown fragmentarily;

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the hinge and of the panels, the panels being shown fragmentarily, the hinge and panels being shown in full lines in open or unfolded position and in dotted lines in closed or folded positions.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the reference numeral 10 generally designates the frame of a closet, cabinet or similar structure, said structure being normally closed by side by side, like panels 12, 13 respectively. The panels are connected for movement between unfolded and folded positions respectively, shown in Figures 1 and 2, by conventional, vertically spaced. butt hinges 14..

The hinge 16 constituting the invention is preferably mounted at the upper end of the panel assembly, and includes flat, rectangular hinge leaves 18, 20 integrally formed at their upper ends with horizontally projecting, flat wings 22, 24 respectively, disposed in a common horizontal plane normal to the plane of the hinge leaves. At the back edges of the wings, that is, the edges opposite from the edges adjacent the hinge leaves, the wings are integrally formed with flanges 26, 28 of inverted L-shape in cross section, this construction providing overhangs on the top edges of the flanges. The overhangs protectively enclose an expansion spring 30, connected between pins 32, 34 mounted within the outer end portions of the respective flanges.

The hinge leaves are secured to the doors by means of screws 37, and the wings are secured to the top edges of the doors by screws 36, said wings being recessed in the top edges of the doors so that the flanges will be flush with the top surfaces of the doors.

Formed on the hinge leaf 18 are spaced sleeves 38, and formed upon hinge leaf 20 between sleeves 38 is an intermediate hinge sleeve 40. The several sleeves are adapted to receive a hinge pin 42, connecting the doors for relative swinging movement between extended positions in which they lie in a common plane, as shown in full lines in Figure 5, and folded positions in which one door is swung about the hinge axis through degrees relative to the other door, so as to dispose the doors in face to face contact, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 5.

in any event, when the panels are in their full line position of Figure 5, this position also being shown in Figure 1, the spring, tending to contract in a path laterally offset from and extending perpendicularly to the hinge axis, holds the doors in their extended positions. On swinging of panel 13 from its full to its dotted line position of Figure 5, the spring initially expands, and is at its maximum expansion when it moves across a dead center defined by the hinge axis 32. Thereafter, the spring begins to contract, biasing the panel the rest of the way to its dotted line position. On return movement of the panel, the same spring action will result, so that the spring serves to bias the panels relative to one another about their hinge axis both when the panels are being extended or opened, and when the panels are being folded or closed.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carryout said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims. What is claimed is: p

l. A double acting spring hinge for panels relatively swingable between a first position in a common plane and a second position in which the panels are in face to face contact in parallel planes, comprising: a pair of binge leaves for connection to corresponding faces of the panels; means carried by the hinge leaves to connect the panels for relative swinging movement between said positions; wings extending from the hinge leaves in a common plane perpendicular tothe hinge axis of the panels; and

a contractile spring connected between the Wings in lateral- 1y spaced relation to said hinge axis for movement over a dead center constituted by said hinge axis, during swinging of the panels between their first and second positions, said wings including flanges formed upon corresponding edges of the wings, said flanges having overhangs protectively enclosing the spring.

2. A double acting spring hinge for panels relatively swingable between a first position in a common plane and a second position in which the panels are in face to face contact in parallel planes, comprising: a pair of hinge leaves for connection to corresponding faces of the panels; means carried by the hinge leaves to connect the panels for relative swinging movement between said positions; wings extending from the hinge leaves in a common plane perpendicular to the hinge axis of the panels;

, 4 and an elongated contractile coil spring connected between the wings in laterally spaced relation to said hinge axis for movement over a dead center constituted by said hinge axis, during swinging of the panels between their first and second positions, said wings including flanges formed upon corresponding edges of the wings, said flanges having overhangs protectively enclosing the spring, the axis of said spring lying in a plane extending normally to the hinge axis.

3. A double acting spring hinge for panels relatively swingable between a first position in a common plane and a second position in which the panels are in face to face contact in parallel planes, comprising: a pair of hinge leaves for connection to corresponding faces of the panels; means carried by the hinge leaves to connect the panels for relative swinging movement between said positions;

wings extending from the hinge leaves in a commonplane perpendicular to the hinge axis of the panels; and an elongated contractile coil spring connected between the wings in laterally spaced relation to said hinge axis for movement over a dead center constituted by said hinge axis, during swinging of the panels between their first and second positions, said Wings including flanges formed upon corresponding edges of the Wings, said flanges having overhangs protectively enclosing the spring, the axis of said spring lying in a plane extending normally to the hinge axis, said flanges and wings abutting in t the first position of the panels.

Barry June 24, 1879 Woodbury Aug. 13, 1895 

